The Trump administration is seeking to block congressional plans to provide additional billions of dollars to states for coronavirus testing and tracing, and for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies.
Senate Republicans are attempting to craft another coronavirus relief bill to fight the increasing number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the United States, aid individual citizens whose unemployment funds may be running out, and reverse some of the most damaging impacts on the nation’s economy.
The Trump administration's stance “has angered some GOP senators,” according to a report in The Washington Post, as the politicians continue to work on ensuring the money remains in the bill.
Preliminary plans for the measure include not only $25 billion for individual states for testing and tracing and another $25 billion for the CDC and the National Institutes of Health, but also more billions for the Pentagon and State Department to combat the pandemic at home and around the world.
Negotiations between Republicans and Democrats are continuing on what will likely be the last coronavirus relief bill before the November presidential election.
Coronavirus relief measures that have already been enacted, including expanded unemployment benefits, are due to expire in the coming weeks.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. infection rate is high because of widespread testing, but health officials say there has not been enough testing in the United States.
Anonymous sources said the White House would like to see funding in the bill for projects that have nothing to do with the pandemic, including funding for a new FBI building.
